Saturday, November 7, 2009

Although I am not a political blogger, I thought I will bring to attention of some of my readers this blog I have been following.... Woeser's blog which I think is interesting. For those of you who do not know Woeser, here is a brief introduction....虽然很少写关于政治的博，倒很希望与大家分享我们跟踪的一些博客。其中之一是唯色的博客，关于作者的简介可以在这里读到。

From Wikipedia: Woeser, a quarter-Han Chinese and three quarter-Tibetan, was born in Lhasa. Her grandfather was a Chinese Army officer in the Nationalist Army and her father was a high rank Army officer in the People's Liberation Army. when she was a small child, her family relocated to the Kham area of western Sichuan province. In 1988, she graduated from Southwest University for Nationalities in Chengdu with a degree in Chinese literature. She worked as a reporter in Kardzé and later in Lhasa and has lived in Beijing since 2003 as a result of political problems. Woeser is married to Wang Lixiong, a famous Chinese author who frequently writes about Tibet. According to Reporters sans frontières, "Woeser is one of the few Tibetan authors and poets to write in Chinese."

The issue of Tibet is very controversial with multiple points of view. There are hypernationalist Han Chinese that hold a view that is completely contradictory to the ones held by many Tibetans. The Western media and academic have tended to side with the Tibetan version. Its hard to know which side is right. What is interesting about Woeser is that her family background makes her sympathetic to both sides of the conflict. Her views on the conflict therefore hold a special significance for those who are curious to have a complete picture of the issues surrounding Tibet. Her blog can be found here:http://woeser.middle-way.net/

Orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family. The lineage of the current dynasty -- the House of Oranje-Nassau -- dates back to Willem van Oranje (William of Orange). But while the color orange has royal roots in the Netherlands, today it symbolizes a broader pride in the country and in being Dutch.We (Mr. and Mrs. Awaara) moved here in June, 2007 and first lived in Oranjastraat. Here it starts our journey in this orange country.